CICF News

Robots & Spice: What STEM Girls Are Made Of

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

On a Saturday morning in May, 118 girls circle tables inside a small gym. Under each table, a red bag is filled with an odd combination of objects including pieces of cardboard, wire hangers, masking tape and a long length of string.

A challenge is presented: Each five- to eight-girl team must construct a robotic arm that can lift a cup full of water, using only the contents of the bag and with just one adult helper.

The event, called “Creating My Bold Future”, is one piece of Girls Inc. of Greater Indianapolis’s effort to address two key challenges: there are more jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) in the United States than qualified people to fill them, and women are underrepresented in the overwhelming majority of STEM fields. Building girls’ excitement and engagement with hands-on STEM-related activities leads to increased confidence and interest in a career in STEM. That goal and Girls Inc.’s programs are supported by several Central Indiana Community Foundation funds and affiliates, including The Efromyson Family Fund, Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, The Indianapolis Foundation and the Summer Youth Program Fund.

One team tests their robotic arm.
Photo courtesy of Girls, Inc. of Greater Indianapolis.

The Gender and Opportunity Gaps

Research shows that there’s an undeniable gender gap in STEM fields, one that begins in childhood and adolescence. Two-thirds of girls and boys say they “like science” in elementary schools, but in middle school and high school girls begin to lose interest. Girls are more likely to take math and science courses and to earn higher grades than boys in high school, but they are also more likely to underestimate their abilities and hold themselves to higher standards of achievement. By the time students reach college, 29 percent of young men plan to major in STEM fields, compared to 15 percent of young women. If biology majors are removed, that number slips to just 5 percent of young women.

The result of this gap can be seen both in numbers and in outcomes for STEM fields. For every 25 engineers, only three are women. This pattern of underrepresentation has far-reaching implications. For example, when automotive crash tests were first developed, the “dummies” created by almost all-male teams were based on men’s bodies only. The resulting safety measures failed to address the physical needs of children and women.

Increasing the number of young women interested in those jobs and degrees can help the United States fill high-paying positions and become more competitive in the international arena. Jobs in STEM fields are projected to increase by 17 percent in the next decade, compared to 9.8 percent growth for non-STEM jobs. Of industrialized nations, the United States ranks twenty-seventh in the proportion of undergraduates earning science and engineering degrees.

Role Models and Robots

“My table group went through about six or seven versions of their robot arm and they never once gave up," says Patricia Maldonado, Dow AgroSciences Chemist, pictured above. "It was so rewarding to see them work through the obstacles until they finally reached their goal.”

In the girl-packed gym, each team has the chance to learn about project management, practice a bit of mechanical engineering and, most important to the planners, become more excited about science, technology, engineering and mathematics or, as they are frequently called, STEM careers. Each team brainstorms ideas, debates designs and assigns roles to members before they lay a hand on their materials.

Many of the teams have an adult who can make a real difference in sparking and feeding an interest in STEM fields – a female role model. About half of the teams have a female STEM professional helping to guide and encourage the robot build, courtesy of volunteers from local STEM employers including the IU School of Medicine, Delphi, Dow AgroSciences and Vertellus.

“All I did was give them the tools to feel empowered, step back, and watched them make it all happen!” says Kianna Marzett, a volunteer from Dow AgroSciences.

For the adult volunteers, the opportunity to influence these young learners is a meaningful way to give back. Research shows that, for young women, a mix of role models, technology and hands-on and cooperative projects develop and sustain interest in STEM careers.

“When they told us we were going to build a robot with that stuff, I didn’t think I could do it,” says Maddy, an 11-year old participant. “But we did it, because we used all of our skills together, in a team.”

You can make a difference!

Our mission at Central Indiana Community Foundation is to inspire, support, and practice philanthropy, leadership and service in the community. We do that by: identifying community-wide issues; working with effective not-for-profits to address those needs; and serving as a philanthropic partner to individuals, family foundations and businesses who are interested in making central Indiana a better place for everyone.

To find out how you can play a role in addressing the needs identified in this story (or any of the stories posted at cicf.org), please contact us at: info@cicf.org.

CICF Expands Twenty-first Century Scholar Enrollment Challenge Program

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) is expanding its Twenty-first Century Scholars (TCFS) Enrollment Challenge, which will now include both Marion and Hamilton counties. The Challenge is an incentive-based initiative created to increase the number and percentage of low-income middle school students enrolled in the Twenty-first Century Scholars program.

From 2010 to 2011, the percentage of eligible Marion County eighth-grade students who enrolled in the Twenty-first Century Scholars program increased from 39% to 75% as a result of CICF’s Enrollment Challenge. As of June 30, 2011, 4,797 eligible 8th-grade students in Marion County were enrolled in the Twenty-first Century Scholars Program out of a group of 6,357. An additional 2,843 7th-grade students were enrolled out of 6,628.

Legacy Fund, CICF’s affiliate serving Hamilton County, is leading the Hamilton County program, and plans to provide awards between $300 and $500 to middle school counselors that enroll 75% of seventh and 90 % of eighth grade students into the TFCS program prior to the June 30th deadline. Schools achieving enrollment goals will be publicly recognized and also be eligible for an additional school bonus award provided by local businesses and philanthropists to promote college readiness activities within the school.

The Twenty-first Century Scholar (TFCS) program is an Indiana college readiness initiative that encourages low-income students and their families to enroll, enter and succeed in post-secondary opportunities. The State of Indiana provides college readiness support services and post-secondary tuition assistance for low-income students that enroll into the program during their seventh and eighth grade year.

An estimated 16% of all Hamilton County students meet income-eligibility requirements for TFCS. According to the TFCS Regional Support Site Director, Amy Parraga, there are over 1,200 seventh and eighth grade students that qualify for the Twenty-first Century Scholar program, but less than one-third are currently enrolled into the program.

“Educational attainment is an investment that pays dividends for everyone throughout central Indiana – young people, their families, employers and the entire community,” said Brian Payne, President and CEO of CICF. “We are excited to have the opportunity to expand this incredibly successful initiative to Hamilton County and help even more of central Indiana’s young people take advantage of the Twenty-first Century Scholars program.”

To receive state tuition assistance to attend any public college or university via the TFCS program, students must pledge to: (1) Excel academically during high school, achieving a 2.5 GPA or higher, (2) Demonstrate good citizenship by saying out of trouble and refraining from use of illicit drugs, (3) Apply and be accepted to a college or university, and (4) Complete financial aid forms on time.

About the Twenty-first Century Scholars Program
The Twenty-first Century Scholars program, established in 1990 by the State of Indiana, encourages low-income middle school students to prepare for post-secondary opportunities. In exchange for academic and civic accomplishments during high school, enrolled students receive post-secondary tuition assistance to attend any public college or university in the State of Indiana.

Parents or guardians must enroll their child(ren) between 7th and 8th grades to qualify to receive the Twenty-first Century Scholarship. Students are also required to sign a pledge that promises they will: (1) graduate from an accredited Indiana high school with a diploma and at least a 2.5 cumulative grade point average, (2) abstain from the use of alcohol, drugs or committing a crime, (3) apply for college admissions, and (4) complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form on-time.

For more information, visit: http://www.in.gov/ssaci/2345.htm.

For more information about the Twenty-first Century Scholars Enrollment Challenge, please contact 765.455.9533 or AParraga@ssaci.IN.gov. You may also find additional information about the Twenty-first Century Scholars program by clicking here.

About CICF
For more information about CICF, please contact Mike Knight, Director of Communications, at 317.634.2423 ext. 186 or mikek@cicf.org, or visit the About section of our site.

From Fountain Square to Square Shares

Wed, 17 May 3200 13:36:45 -0600

On March 17th, shoppers at Saraga International Grocery at Lafayette Road and 38th Street found more than the normal mix of exotic foods, spices and other items on their lists. They also found two men with a camera and a notebook.

It wasn’t part of an in-store marketing study, and the two weren’t from Saraga’s security detail: They were part of a two-month long art project called Share Square, and were asking shoppers to tell them about an object or wish that mattered to them.

The brainchild of Big Car Collective, a collective of artists, writers and musicians, the Square Share project gathered stories from children and adults who live in, work in or visit the Lafayette Square Area in order to create a diverse portrait of the neighborhood. Exhibited via a mixture of drawings, stories, photos and videos created in partnership with local arts groups Know No Stranger and Latino Youth Collective, the project opens for viewing at Big Car’s year-old Service Center for Contemporary Culture and Community on May 15, 2012.

Square Share is representative of Big Car’s ambitious goals with the Service Center, goals that include extending and modifying the traditional concept of an “arts organization”. Founded in Fountain Square, Big Car’s move to an empty tire store beside the downtrodden mall left some confused. But to Big Car and its leadership, the move actually brought the collective closer to its mission.

A New Definition of “Art”

“Our idea for art is that the community, the social capital, the connections – that’s what the product is,” says Jim Walker, Big Car Executive Director. “We want to give people a chance to experience all kinds of creativity and make sure nothing is exclusive or about the ‘right way’ to create something.”

Big Car’s vision is to “bring art to people and people to art.” That focus has taken a variety of forms in the organization’s eight-year history, including opening and managing its original gallery space, producing the 48 Hour Film Project and fostering neighborhood-based cultural events.
Launched in May 2011, with support from The Indianapolis Foundation and The Efromyson Family Fund, Big Car’s Service Center takes the collective’s approach one step further. From community gardens and large-scale murals to lunchtime yoga and drop-in drawing classes, the Service Center is a unique art space, where staff focus more on fostering community than creating works of art to hang on walls.

With 11,500 square feet to fill and a new neighborhood to connect with, the group has used the space to articulate a unique vision of “social practice art”. That term may sound academic, but the essence of its meaning could not be more egalitarian.

With community connections as a central goal, Big Car plans to bring programs to areas throughout Indianapolis. The group is currently working to finalize funding for pop-up “creativity stations” in local public spaces including The Indianapolis Cultural Trail: A Legacy of Gene & Marilyn Glick, Monument Circle and the Indianapolis City Market. Made for Each Other, a neighborhood-focused effort to foster community-building projects that connect residents to artists and art institutions, has allowed Big Car to work with diverse Indianapolis neighborhoods.

Murals: For, By and Of the Masses

One of the most visible results of both Big Car’s Service Center and their focus on community-focused creativity is the set of murals surrounding Lafayette Square Mall. Part of the Arts Council of Indianapolis’ citywide mural project 46 for XLVI, two murals are located at the Service Center. A third mural is on 38th street, just west of the I-65 exit. Big Car worked to involve the community in the mural-making process from conception to construction.

One mural composed of brightly colored squares is the result of a community collage session, in which residents used paint samples to create their own small compositions of concentric squares inspired by artist Josef Albers. Four of the group’s pieces make up a large-scale mural painted facing busy 38th Street. Groups of volunteers from the Lilly Day of Service painted both the Albers-inspired piece and the “Served” mural on the Service Center’s west side, designed by Columbus, Indiana-based artist Andy Miller.

A third mural, “Unite for Culture and Community” is a call to action for area residents, created by Clayton Hamilton, an Indianapolis resident who for more than 20 years has painted statements on a wall just north of 38th Street on College Avenue. Hamilton’s message runs along the southern side of the Service Center.

“The murals and our community gardens are the face of the Service Center,” says Walker. “Those things are letting people know that there’s not a distance between us and the community, and that this is a public space for the community.”

You can make a difference!

To find out how you can play a role in addressing the needs identified in this story (or any of the stories posted at cicf.org), please contact us at: info@cicf.org.

Photos provided by Big Car.

A Park Is Born

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

Unused Turf Will Soon Be A Community Gateway

When Albert Carter donated the land for Alice Carter Park back in 1922, it probably made all the sense in the world. As parks go, it wasn’t much – just a sliver of grass on what was then the city’s far northside. But Carter wanted to remember his beloved wife, Alice. And tucked between Westfield Avenue and Meridian Street, the park was a bucolic spot bordering the Broad Ripple Canal whose serenity was disrupted only by puttering Model T’s and other motorcars of the day as they traveled along the city’s “Main Stem.”

An additional gift of land from the Winters family expanded the park’s size in 1999. But Meridian Street grew ever busier with cars and trucks, and the speed at which they traveled. Even though pedestrian use of the bordering Canal Towpath increased, outside of a bench and stone marker, the park remained amenity-free. And if passersby noticed the little park at all, they likely noticed a little park that wasn’t.

But after 12 years of planning, that’s all about to change.

By Fall, 2012, Alice Carter Place Park and the pedestrian pathways that lead to it will be transformed, with leadership from Midtown Indianapolis and the Meridian Street Foundation, and support from the Federal Department of Transportation, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization, The Indianapolis Foundation, Central Indiana Community Foundation, and neighborhood groups and residents.

Improved pathways aim to enhance pedestrian and cyclist safety. Construction in process on Westfield, just east of Meridian Street. Proposed park includes wide walkways, access for walkers and cyclists, and additional landscaping.

Long-term plans call for pathways, landscaping, seating areas, a children’s play area, and spaces for contemplation and conversation. But Cindy Zweber-Free, Vice President of Midtown Indianapolis and a neighborhood resident, says it will become much more than that. It will become the type of urban park that can reconnect neighborhoods, serve diverse residents, improve property values, and attract more homeowners to the area.

Planning for More than a Park

While Alice Carter Place Park was founded on philanthropic donations, its upcoming transformation is rooted in engagement. The current planning began in the early 2000s, with Indy Parks working in partnership with the Meridian Street Foundation, an organization of residents of Historic Meridian Street and adjacent streets, to identify improvements and increase the usability of the park. The groups recognized that the park was a community asset that had become disconnected from the neighborhood and essentially unused.

Those planning efforts gained new momentum when Kathy Shorter and Zweber-Free began to collaborate in the HARMONI initiative, a neighborhood group which sought to slow traffic on Meridian Street while making it safer for pedestrians and cyclists, which later transformed into Midtown Indianapolis. Shorter volunteers as President of the Midtown organization. Midtown Indianapolis has a mission to “connect and rejuvenate” four neighborhoods: Butler-Tarkington, Broad Ripple, Meridian-Kessler, and the Meridian Street area. Because Alice Carter Place Park straddles three of those communities, its redevelopment is a natural project for the group. With support from the Meridian Street Foundation and The Indianapolis Foundation, Midtown began making an even bigger plan.

“We thought, ‘Maybe [the project] should be bigger than the park,’” says Zweber-Free. “We could develop a larger impact with sidewalks, safe crossings, traffic calming and even support business corners. We could make the whole area better for everyone.”

Current efforts focus on providing amenities and services in the park, but also on developing Alice Carter Place Park into a gateway for the North Meridian Street Historic District and as a trail-head for users of the Indy Parks Greenways' Canal Towpath.

Construction Begins

Travels through the Meridian-Kessler neighborhood have involved a detour this spring, as construction on the first phase of improvements to the Meridian-Westfield intersection that borders Alice Carter Place Park have begun. Chunks of pavement, traffic-blocking orange cylinders and constructions signs are more commonplace than cars on Westfield between Meridian and Kessler and likely will be throughout much of the summer. But Zweber-Free says the temporary inconvenience will be worth it.

“Ninety people cross Meridian and Westfield each hour,” says Cindy Zweber-Free. “We need a protected crossing to make sure they’re safe.” Those pedestrians compete with up to 30,000 motor vehicles daily which can travel in excess of 50 miles per hour, according to a 2010 traffic study.

This first phase of work will improve pedestrian and cyclist access to and within Alice Carter Place Park and the nearby Canal Towpath. For community organizers, safe connections are a key part of planning for a new and useful park space.

Combined with sidewalk improvements in 2011, the intention of this first phase is to restore the area’s original pedestrian-friendly feel and add paved pathways, a “point gateway” paved entrance, and basic landscaping to the park itself.

More Than Just Green Space

Phase 1 of the construction may be focused on connecting the park to the neighborhood, but Phase 2, which has not yet been fully financed, will be about helping the park better serve the neighborhood.

Today, the park is essentially a span of grass turf with a line of trees along its southern edge. A bench and stone marker recognize the Winters’ and Carter’s contributions to the park. While the park provides an open green space, it does not have programmed spaces to support activities. Phase 2 includes tentative plans for a children’s play area, rain gardens and a canal overlook across Westfield and will begin when funding is secured. These new additions aim to serve a diverse neighborhood, with a variety of family types, ages, races and interests and, potentially, to attract and retain new residents.

“Connectivity is one of the most important elements of community development in the 21st century,” says Brian Payne, President and CEO of CICF and The Indianapolis Foundation. The foundation's definition of an “Inspiring Place” includes places that afford passive recreation, quiet reflection and community gathering while providing walking and bicycling connectivity to and from the surrounding neighborhoods. It's also a definition of what Alice Carter Place Park aspires to be.

Now that construction has begun and with the first park improvements scheduled for completion by fall 2012, the group is seeing the impact of work that began nearly a decade ago.

“It’s kind of like, wow, things can really happen!” says Zweber-Free. “If you’re willing to stay the course, to put in your own time, and to get others involved, you can make a difference.”

You can make a difference!

To find out how you can play a role in addressing the needs identified in this story (or any of the stories posted at cicf.org), please contact us at: info@cicf.org.

40,000 Marion County Youth to Benefit From More Than $2.3 Million in Grants

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

The Summer Youth Program Fund, a funding collaborative of 10 local and national partners, will provide more than $2.3 million in grants to support programs at 152 organizations in Marion County. The grants will fund 177 low- or no-cost summertime programs, activities and experiences for 40,000 area children ages 4 to 19-years old, and include sports, overnight camping, career exploration, youth employment, community service, college access and academic enrichment.

Founded in 1995 by The Indianapolis Foundation and Lilly Endowment Inc., the Summer Youth Program Fund was the first funding collaborative dedicated to summer youth programs in the United States. Since 1995, the collaborative has contributed more than $31 million dollars in general operating and capital support to Marion County organizations that provide summertime programming.

In 2011-2012, the funding partners are: Christel DeHaan Family Foundation; The Clowes Fund, Inc.; City of Indianapolis, DMD/HUD; Eli Lilly and Company; Hoover Family Foundation; The Indianapolis Foundation; JPMorgan Chase Foundation; Kroger; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.

“The Summer Youth Program Fund demonstrates the power of collaboration along with a commitment to young people that’s shared by businesses, government, not-for-profits and foundations alike,” said Brian Payne, President and CEO of Central Indiana Community Foundation. “It’s a model of cooperation and support, and something our entire community should be proud of.”

More about the Summer Youth Program Fund.

More about CICF.

For a complete list of funded programs, download the full Summer Youth Program Fund release.

Kristian Andersen Recaps CICF’s Angel Reception @ The Speak Easy

Wed, 17 May 6400 13:35:41 -0600

In 2011, CICF began inviting Angel Investors to help support the Foundation’s transformational community work made possible through its three Community Leadership Initiatives (Family Success, College Readiness and Success and Inspiring Places). Kristian Andersen, one of the founders of The Speak Easy and also KA A, is also one of 45 Angel Investors who attended a reception and series of presentations on April 11, 2012 designed to demonstrate the return on their investment. Here are some of his thoughts regarding CICF’s College Readiness, Inspiring Places and Family Success Initiatives. Watch the video!

For more information about becoming an Angel Investor, or to get a hard copy of the prospectus, send us an email (or call Rob MacPherson at 317.634.2423).

Reading, Writing…and Reaching Goals

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

Indy Reads Helps Adults Get More From Life

What makes people – adults – want to get better at reading and writing? That’s the critical question Indy Reads asks when people come to them hoping to improve their ability to read and write. Their answers serve as a foundation for the goals they’ll set, a key step in the journey to greater literacy…and so much more.

“I want to read to my daughter each night.”

“My boss gave me a promotion, but I can’t take it because I can’t write reports.”

“I need a driver’s license.”

Though the reason for coming to Indy Reads, an organization that helps adults gain literacy skills, may differ, the desired outcome is the same: Indy Reads and their students know better reading and writing skills can be a pathway to a better life – for students and their families.

The Cost of Adult Illiteracy

More than 40,000 adults in Marion County lack basic literacy skills, according to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy. And even more adults lack functional literacy – the ability to understand more complex and essential written information. Without functional literacy, adults might have the ability to read or write very simple sentences with a limited vocabulary, but understanding job listings, bills, prescriptions or children’s homework would be a significant challenge.

The personal costs of illiteracy are great. Employment opportunities are limited. Family stability and children’s academic success can be threatened. Illiteracy correlates with high incarceration rates, poor health outcomes and poverty.

For a community, the costs of illiteracy are also high. A parent’s educational attainment correlates strongly with a child’s educational outcomes, which means that illiteracy can leave a family legacy. Illiteracy is estimated to result in more than $70 million in direct health care costs each year, due to confusion on prescriptions, patients’ decreased ability to advocate for their own health needs, and other challenges. Estimates for the annual national cost of illiteracy for businesses – and for communities’ economic productivity – exceed a billion dollars.

This critical community need is being addressed by Indy Reads, with support from multiple CICF sources, including The Indianapolis Foundation, the Efromyson Family Fund and The Glick Fund.

The Opportunity for Change

“A lot of our students have never been asked about their goals before,” says Travis DiNicola, Executive Director of Indy Reads. “Their goals are our focus.”

Before a student meets with volunteer tutors, Indy Reads staff and volunteers provide an initial screening that includes vision testing with a special chart made of shapes, an assessment of current literacy levels and questions about goals. Many students discover that they need glasses in the process and can quickly eliminate a barrier to reading.

After completing an assessment and setting some goals, Indy Reads’ adult students are paired with trained volunteers who work alongside students as they gain new reading and writing skills. Roughly half of students improve their reading level by one grade level in a year. An additional 25 percent of students gain two to five grade levels in a year. The remaining 25 percent encounter more serious barriers to literacy, so Indy Reads helps them focus on the most critical skills for self sufficiency and life skills.

A Community Effort

Indy Reads is only able to accomplish these goals with mix of manpower, hours and support provided by their 570 volunteers. In 2012, the group plans to add 700 more volunteers, as they expand their service area and add new partnerships with other service agencies.

This June, Indy Reads will open a bookstore – Indy Reads Books – at 911 Massachusetts Avenue on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. The group anticipates that the store will be both a revenue generator and a way to expand the community’s awareness of their mission.

“We want Indy Reads Books to be the bookstore for everyone, the downtown bookstore,” says Alex Mattingly, the store manager. “We really want to make sure people can get good books at a good price, and we hope to see some of our Indy Reads students there.”

After opening up book donations in partnership with diverse drop-off locations like the Upland Tasting Room, Big Car’s Service Center, the Jewish Community Center of Indianapolis and several other sites, the Indy Reads offices are jam-packed with boxes of books. But ample space remains for tutoring pairs to work phonemic awareness and writing reports.

“The groundswell of support for the bookstore is really about people wanting to help others learn to read,” Mattingly says.

The Indianapolis Foundation Awards $332,000 + To Area Libraries, Cultural and Community Organizations

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

The Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation and the Foundation’s Library Fund awarded more than $332,000 in grants and awards to nine not-for-profits and libraries serving Marion County on March 13, 2012. The Foundation granted more than $6.4 million in 2011 and it has awarded more than $190 million since it began making Community Fund grants in 1924.

Grants awarded to not-for-profits listed below are meant to provide operational support. IUPUI Library grants will support a research project to better understand the role libraries play in helping students achieve post-secondary educations as well as a separate project to digitize Indianapolis High School yearbooks. The yearbooks are the most heavily used collection at the Indianapolis Special Collections Room of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library.

“In keeping with The Indianapolis Foundation’s longtime mission, these grants are meant to support social, cultural and educational organizations which continue to play such an important role in our community, and from which we all benefit,” said D. William “Bill” Moreau, Jr., board chair, The Indianapolis Foundation.

The Indianapolis Foundation Grants

100 Black Men of Indianapolis, $40,000
General operating support

Asian Help Services, $20,000
To expand outreach services

Ball State University – Bowen Center for Public Affairs, $20,000
The Disability Project (The project helps identify, address and eliminate the barriers to employment faced by college educated people with disabilities).

Day Nursery Association of Indianapolis, $40,000
The Tuition Assistance Program, which provides scholarships to low-to-middle income children to attend its early education and care facilities.

Dress For Success, $45,000
To support career development and post-employment services

Freetown Village, Inc., $20,000
Phase 2 of an organizational assessment

Indiana Latino Institute, $50,000
Program operating support for its “Careers for the Future” education program, which is designed to local Latino students and families

Project Home Indy, $40,000
General operating support to help provide housing and comprehensive services to homeless pregnant and parenting teen mothers
Watch a video about Project Home Indy.

TOTAL Indianapolis Foundation Grants: $275,000

The Indianapolis Foundation Library Fund

IUPUI University Library (College Project), $38,822
College Ready, College Bound, a mixed-methods research initiative that examines how library instruction impacts post-secondary success and persistence

IUPUI University Library (Yearbook Project), $18,340
Digital preservation of IPS yearbooks and other archives

TOTAL Indianapolis Foundation Library Fund Grants: $57,162

TOTAL GRANTS: $332,162

More about The Indianapolis Foundation

More about The Indianapolis Foundation Library Fund

Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Recipients Announced

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

Thirteen students from Marion and Hamilton counties have been named recipients of four-year, full-tuition scholarships as the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) 2012 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars.

Hamilton County recipients include:
Leslie Price, Sheridan High School
Robert Herron, Fishers High School
Kayla Snyder, Fishers High School
Yekaterina Kantar, Westfield High School

Marion County recipients include:
Biak Chin Par, Southport High School
Cara Donovan, North Central High School
Conner Merritt, Warren Central High School
David Johnson, Northwest High School
Jessica James, Speedway High School
Michelle Otieno, Covenant Christian High School
Kirsten Davenport, Heritage Christian High School
Kahadija Evans, Ben Davis High School
Richie Maher, Emmerich Manual High School

A total of 63 applications were received for the scholarships, which stipulated that recipients must: plan to pursue a full-time baccalaureate course of study beginning in the fall of 2012 at a public or private college or university in Indiana; demonstrate an un-weighted GPA of at least 2.5; demonstrate financial need; demonstrate leadership or initiative in their school or community; and promise to, upon graduation, give back to the community. Applicants were interviewed by a selection committee and finalists’ names were submitted to Independent Colleges of Indiana, Inc. (ICI) for the selection of recipients.

The scholarships are the result of a statewide Lilly Endowment initiative to help Hoosier students reach higher levels of education. Indiana ranks among the lowest states in the percentage of residents over the age of 25 with a bachelor’s degree. There were 142 scholarships awarded statewide.

More about scholarships.

More about CICF.

Personnel News from CICF

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

INDIANAPOLIS, IN —Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) is pleased to announce the following additions to its staff:

LaTasha Sturdivant-Malone, Grants Officer, was formerly Associate Executive Director of The Indiana Partnerships Center. Previously, she served at the College Readiness Centers of Ivy Tech Community College, and also served in the field of international education at Butler University and George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Monica R. Peterson, Donors Services Advisor, was formerly Fundraising Coordinator for the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. She previously served as Director of Foundation Relations at Ball State University and is a graduate of Butler University and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College.
Following eight years as an Associate at Legacy Fund, CICF’s Hamilton County affiliate, Julie Wright joined CICF’s Grants Department in February 2012 as Grants Coordinator. She is a graduate of Indiana University, and prior to Legacy Fund, worked as a consultant at MAXIMUS.

“CICF – and the many communities, donors and partners we serve – have much to gain from the skills and talents represented by these additions,” said Brian Payne, CEO and President, Central Indiana Community Foundation.

More about CICF.